Sweeney Todd – 4/10 – Proctors in Schenectady

A fascinating take on ‘Sweeney Todd’
By Michael Eck
Special to The Times Union
SCHENECTADY – It’s almost become de rigueur to spiff up old Broadway shows not by dressing them up, but by dressing them down.
“Cabaret” and “Chicago” both benefited from being given even bawdier treatments than they originally earned, with ladies leaping around in lacy underthings and the men slicking back their hair to even more decadent degrees.
In the touring production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” which plays again at Proctors this afternoon and evening, Carrie Cimma looks almost as though she might have taken a wrong turn on her way to “Cabaret.”
But she hasn’t. Cimma, who is playing that pernicious purveyor of meat pies, Mrs. Lovett, actually got lost on her way to “The Threepenny Opera.”
This production – conceived by John Doyle – puts the play in an asylum and garbs it in the theatrical antics of Bertolt Brecht, with everyone involved – including the audience – well aware that they’re putting on a play.
The actors are the musicians, and they’re all telling the same story about a righteous man driven mad by the wrongs done his family.
It’s a fascinating presentation, and the only downside at all is that it has a shorter run than most Proctors musicals.
Cimma is a punky blonde and she plays Lovett like she looks. It’s a fine interpretation by an actress bred in our own backyard. She is especially good on “A Little Priest” and “By The Sea,” and she even makes the endless emptying of buckets of blood look fetching.
Merritt David Janes is appropriately dark as Todd, a cipher with a razor and a particularly bad attitude.
He wears the role like a cloak and has the right sense of animal magnetism on “No Place Like London” and the thrilling “Epiphany.”
But this play is all about ensemble, especially since all the sounds come from the stage itself rather than from the pit.
Matt Cusack, for example, may only speak briefly as asylum director Jonas Fogg, but he anchors everything with his double bass.
And Duke Anderson and Wendy Muir, as the constantly thwarted lovers Anthony and Johanna, spar beautifully with their cellos when they’re not trying desperately to connect as characters.
Everything about this production is stunning, from the remarkable sound design to the perfect set and the moody lighting that defines every scene.
If you only know “Sweeney Todd” from Tim Burton’s bloodbath of a film, you’re missing a real treat on stage. And if you are familiar with the original show but haven’t seen Doyle’s daring adaptation, then you’re missing out as well.
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Performance reviewed: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Proctors, 426 State St., Schenectady
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Continues: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $20-$55
Info: 346-6204; http://www.proctors.org